Valen

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For other instances of the name "Valen", see Valen (disambiguation)

Valen was a great religious and military leader of the Minbari who lived at the time of the previous shadow war. He founded the Grey Council and the Anla'shok following the victory over the Shadows, a thousand years before Babylon 5 was built. He is sometimes referred to as a Minbari not born of Minbari --Lennier, (S3E05, Passing Through Gethsemane)).

Along with turning the tide of the war and forcing the Shadows to retreat, Valen created a number of fundamental aspects of Minbari culture and society. Minbar owes much of its current religion, politics and tradition to him.

Valen also made a series of prophecies that guided much of Minbari culture and government for the next thousand years (until 2260). He is credited with creating "a thousand years of peace" through his introduction of "Valen's Law" which stated that Minbari do not kill Minbari.


Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow. Affecting people who have not seen/read: War Without End


Contents

[edit] Origins

"He is the closed circle. He is returning to the beginning." -- Ulkesh (S3E16, War Without End, Part 1)

Valen was, in fact, a Human named Jeffrey Sinclair (played by Michael O'Hare), an Earthforce pilot who became the first commanding officer of Babylon 5. The so-called "Prophecies of Valen" were based on Sinclair's memory of what happened in the Babylon 5 era.

[edit] Battle of the Line

During the Battle of the Line at the end of the Earth-Minbari War, while vainly attempting to ram a Minbari cruiser, Sinclair was captured and interrogated by the Grey Council. It was here that the Council learned that Sinclair possessed the soul of Valen.

"It is our belief that every generation of Minbari is reborn in each following generation. Remove those souls, and the whole suffers. We are diminished. Over the last two thousand years, there have been fewer Minbari born into each generation. And those who are born do not seem equal to those who came before. It almost as if our greater souls have been disappearing. At the Battle of the Line, we discovered where our souls were going. They were going to you. Minbari souls are being reborn, in part or in full, in Human bodies."
"So you stopped the war in order to avoid harming your own souls?"
"Yes."
-- Lennier and Ivanova, (S2E01, Points of Departure)

The Grey Council concluded that Minbari souls were being born into Human bodies. The discovery led the Minbari to surrender and return Sinclair to his fighter, the memory of his time aboard the Minbari cruiser telepathically blocked (though this block would not be permanent and would break down years later). Sinclair believed that he had blacked out from the acceleration.

[edit] War Without End

In August 2260, Sinclair received a 900-year-old letter from himself on Minbar, revealing that he was, in fact, Valen. He also wrote a note to Delenn, although the contents have not been revealed.

Following the instructions in the letter he returned to Babylon 5 from where he, Sheridan, Delenn, Ivanova, Marcus and Zathras continued to Sector 14. Once there, they took the White Star through a time distortion not unlike the one that had been the fate of Catherine Sakai, and travelled six years back in time to 2254 to 'steal' Babylon 4. (S3E16/17 War Without End, Parts 1&2)

Later, Sinclair used the Chrysalis device and the triluminary to transform himself genetically from a Human into a Minbari. He remained aboard Babylon 4 (with Zathras), taking it approximately one thousand years back in time to the height of the then-raging Shadow war. After he assumed leadership of the Minbari, and fulfilled prophecy by becoming the One Who Was, the huge station served as the base of operations from which the previous Army of Light launched their successful counter-offensive and won victory in the war.

"That door is closed forever, but it is not the only one. Lennier told you that a thousand years ago Human and Minbari souls began to merge. Minbari souls were being born in Human bodies. Something happened that opened that door between us. My change in part was to even the scales and restore balance between our races using a device my people discovered a thousand years ago. You see, if my people found Babylon 4 with a Human on board, they would never have accepted it."
"Dear God, a Minbari not born of Minbari!"
-- Delenn and Marcus, (S3E17 War Without End, Part2)
Conjecture: The following information is purely conjecture and is non-canon.

There is a theory that whoever was taken aboard the Grey Council's ship was destined to become Valen. It goes something like ths: Sinclair was Valen only because he was picked up at the Battle of the Line. The Minbari only surrendered to end the war when they discovered the pilot they interrogated shared Valen's soul. If it had not been Valen, the Human Race would have been exterminated. The Minbari only allowed Sinclair to be appointed as Babylon 5's Commander and then as Ranger One, because he was Valen. Sinclair only took Babylon 4 back in time because of a letter from himself, a thousand years in the past. Sinclair/Valen was only able to write the letter and seed the Minbari prophecies because he and the Human Race survived the Battle of the Line.

[edit] Leadership

[edit] Grey Council

Valen founded the first Grey Council, which lasted almost 1000 years, until it was broken in 2260 (S3E10 Severed Dreams), and later completely reformed in August 2261 (S4E14 Moments of Transition) by Delenn.

"Valen called together the Grey Council, formed the first one; until then the Castes had been in constant competition. He wanted to operate outside of that a bit, so he made sure he was not one of the Nine. That tradition has continued."
-- posted by JMS on CompuServe Date: 02 Mar 1997 02:44:20 -0700[1]

Valen spoke the following words when he founded the first Grey Council:

"Will you follow me into fire, into storm, into darkness, into death?
And the Nine said yes. Then do this in testimony to the one who will follow, who will bring death couched in the promise of new life and renewal disguised as defeat.
From birth through death and renewal, you must put aside old things, old fears, old lives. This is your death, the death of flesh, the death of pain, the death of yesterday. Taste of it and be not afraid for I am with you to the end of time. Taste of it.
And so it begins."
-- Delenn, quoting Valen, (S1E08, The Parliament of Dreams)

The Nine members of the Grey Council were made up of three representatives each from the Religious, Warrior, and Worker Castes. These leaders are known by the honorific, Satai. During some periods of Minbari history all members operate as equals while at other times a single member is elevated to the position of leader of the Grey Council. The members of the Grey Council vote to admit new member(s) when a position is open.

[edit] Valen's Law

He introduced Valen's Law: "No Minbari shall kill another Minbari." Prior to the time of Valen, there was much violence and murder. Since that time, and the Minbari have been in space for well over a thousand years, they have pretty much hewn to that rule; it is their greatest taboo.

[edit] Anla'shok

When the Castes refused to put their squables aside, Valen shamed them by forming the Anla'shok. It's members gave up their allegiances to their former Castes in order to fight for Minbar as a whole.

The Anla'shok (or Rangers), who survived as an organisation right up to the time of the Earth-Minbari War (Mov2, In the Beginning), if not until Sinclair became Entil'Zha again in 2259.

[edit] Government

Valen set up the current Minbari government in the 13th Century, and codified the laws and structures which rule the Minbari Federation.

He carefully created trust and balance between the three Castes, bringing them together into a cohesive society:

"As part of Valen's covenant, to prevent one Caste from taking over the other, each Caste has access to its own warships. This was done to create trust a thousand years ago, and since then, since there hasn't been any conflict between Minbari, the three Castes own their own warships still, but in general are assigned to Warrior Caste as a courtesy, which can be revoked. As Delenn noted, the Worker and Religious castes control two-thirds of their forces."
-- posted by JMS on CompuServe Date: 04-Apr-96 11:54:45 [2]
"That was the law, as set down by Valen. Three castes: Worker, Religious, Warrior. They build, you pray, we fight."
--Neroon (S3E19, Grey 17 Is Missing)

[edit] Prophecies of Valen

"A number of the Minbari prophecies were written down by Valen himself, at the time when he called together the Grey Council and led the last great war against the shadows. They have somehow tended to be quite astonishingly accurate."

-- posted by JMS on Usenet 22 Apr 1996 [3]
"I told them, Delenn, as I was ordered. I only wish I could have told them the rest - about the Great Enemy that is returning and the prophecy that the two sides of our spirit must unite against the Darkness or be destroyed. They say it will take both of our races to stop the Darkness. I am told that the Earthers will discover all this, soon enough, on their own. I hope they are right. Because if we are wrong, no-one will survive our mistake."
-- Lennier (S2E01, Points of Departure)

[edit] Retirement

After the Shadow War Valen retired from public life. He was married, had several children, and it is quite possible that his wife was no other than Catherine Sakai, who had ended up in the same era as he, after passing through a time distortion. The canonical comic book trilogy In Valen's Name does seem to suggest that Sakai was found by Sinclair after his transformation to Valen.

In 1360, Valen wrote letters addressed to Jeffrey Sinclair and Ambassador Delenn. They were sealed in boxes on Minbar with orders not to be opened for 900 years.

He lived to be well over a hundred years old.[4] Valen's death, about 900 years prior to Babylon 5, (circa 1360), was shrouded in mystery. His body was never found. (S4E09, Atonement)

[edit] Children of Valen

After his death Valen's children had to flee Minbar in fear of persecution, but eventually they returned to their homeworld and introduced Human DNA into the Minbari population. (S4E09, Atonement)

JMS suggested that the term Children of Valen, ignoring the wife of Valen, could be rather subtly ignoring what they might consider just a bit of scandal....[5]

Delenn is revealed to be a Child of Valen, that is, descended from Sinclair. The Triluminary will glow in the presence of any Minbari with Human DNA, as it did for Sinclair at the Battle of the Line, and for Delenn during her inauguration to the Grey Council. The triluminaries used by the Grey Council were originally designed to activate in the presence of Sinclair's DNA. (S4E09, Atonement)

[edit] See Also

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